“The aroma of this guayusa is quite lovely- like toasty vanilla with a dash of mint. A hot cup of this makes me think of Pistachio Ice Cream (it’s the creamy vanilla), but instead of green tea and...”
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From Butiki Teas

Don’t let the name fool you, this guayusa is subtle and calming but it is deceptive in its high caffeine content which creates a relaxed yet alert feeling. Lavender, mint, and vanilla are well balanced and come together for a light and earthy treat. Add a little sugar and the flavors come to life. The creamy vanilla, gentle mint, and relaxing lavender mingle and fight for attention but ultimately the vanilla is the strongest. This guayusa was inspired by a song that we adore, The Killer’s Vanilla by Amon Tobin, one of our favorite artists to listen to while blending tea. For more information on the naming of this guayusa check out our blog: http://butikiteas.blogspot.com/2012/08/behind-name-killers-vanilla-edition.html

106 Tasting Notes

The primary aroma I’m getting from this cup is minty, which would normally not be something I’d enjoy…. but there’s vanilla too (obviously)! And I like vanilla mint!

As suggested on my little sample bag, I added sweetener (again without tasting the tea first, I’m terrible this morning!)

Wow! This is probably the best flavoured guayasa I’ve tried yet! It’s minty, but the vanilla (and possibly lavender) disguises any of the ick aspects I usually find with peppermint in teas. Granted, it is also sweetened, and that probably helps too, but I’m really enjoying the flavouring here! So this is another tea that at the very least, I’d like to do some more experimenting with. Primarily trying it without sweetener (or with a smaller, controlled amount, if I decide something like that would be allowable).

Thanks for another awesome sample, Stacy!

ETA: Nom nom, this re-steeps pretty well! I don’t think I’ll go for a third, but definitely worth a second! I hate that I’m adding both this one and Good Morning Sunshine to my “must purchase” list (although perhaps I’ll force myself to finish off Apricot Guayasa, which was not my fave, first).

Ohhhhh spearmint! That would also explain why I liked it better than peppermint. I couldn’t read the tea description while writing up my review, and honestly hadn’t bothered to look at what was in the tea.

Stacy – I’m pretty sure I didn’t hate Tangerine Creamsicle either! I should have tried it sweetened. Actually… I think it was a sample from Azzrian, therefore I probably have enough left to try! I just bought some gum that tastes like orange creamsicle, and it’s delicious…

Yeah, I think it’s the earthiness I don’t particularly care for the flavour of, and while it does come out even with sweetener, it is far more tolerable. Also, your blends are flavoured much better IMO than my first guayasa, which was DavidsTea’s Jungle Ju Ju… which kind of made me gag. I’m looking forward to my sample of the Cider Guayasa, as it smelled amazing, but I don’t think I need a third cup of it this morning! (Especially since I am feeling awake and alert now… which is some sort of miracle!)

I am waiting for this to cross the pond and pop itself into my cup. I haven’t tried any guayasa (at least not to my knowledge) but as a vanilla lover the name temped me to try it. I hope it arrives soon.

Today is my first trip to the DMV, oh boy! Thankfully, I made an appointment to get my state ID, woot state ID! Maybe at a later date I’ll try for getting my drivers, it’s been a long time since I drove, plus I’d have to take the tests and such over again.

So, time to bust out the energetic guayusa tea. I was thinking GMS, but would clash with my breakfast of oatbars. Very nice flavor, as always. Vanillay sweet, without any sweetener, with a hint of lavender. Relaxed and caffeinated!

The aroma of this guayusa is quite lovely- like toasty vanilla with a dash of mint. A hot cup of this makes me think of Pistachio Ice Cream (it’s the creamy vanilla), but instead of green tea and pistachios there is that earthy tone that guayusa is known for.

The spearmint seemed stronger in my cooled down cup than in the piping hot one; the vanilla tasted more subdued. I think I may like this better when the vanilla takes the more dominant role, but the cup is still consistently creamy, floral, and earthy enough for me. The lavender is on the periphery of my senses most of the time, although, like the mint, that seems to be more prevalent in the cooler cup.

On a few other, somewhat related, notes.. I love the name of this blend a lot. It’s also a decent substitute for those who loved Teaopia’s now defunct Mate Vanilla Mint.

It’s not something I see myself drinking all the time, however that’s likely due to some unfortunate conditioning with guayusa, all-nighters, and hopeless papers. I see this getting rotation with David’s Jungle Ju Ju, as a deceptively smoother alternative, around school deadlines.

Preparation

I’ve never had guayasa before but I decided to try this because it was on sale for so cheap! It’s odd. It’s very much like a honeybush tea, with notes of vanilla balanced against a little bit of lavender. Like the description says, it’s a soothing blend, yet it packs an energetic punch.

Well maybe that’s not apt. It’s more like someone quietly whispering in your head, motivating you to go out and get things done, and then before you know it you’re DOINGALLTHETHINGS. Much better than an energetic punch.

Guayusa is totally something I wouldn’t serve to friends. Or maybe friends who totally don’t care that their tea is the color of murky water. Which is a-ok with me, because that just means I get more.

This was more lavender and vanilla today as I drank the whole cup piping hot. I find that as this one cools the spearmint flavors creep into the limelight, though the strong grassy earth flavors of the guayusa stay subdued throughout. I’m still finding the experience of drinking this to be extremely calming without putting me to sleep.

I need to get Fiance onboard the guayusa train, so I can justify having a couple different flavors. This should totally be my midterm and finals tea.

Preparation

Azzrian Thanks for this!
This smells like Snow Peas, Mint, Vanilla, and Lavender.
Not only is this a good quality Guayusa it’s a good flavored Guayusa!

My first sip I could taste the Guayusa and mint with the Lavender. The 2nd sip – I could taste the Vanilla and Mint. The 3rd sip I could pick up that creamy texture because of the vanilla along with the taste of Lavender and Mint.

Donna – you can use your gift certificate from Butiki (assuming you haven’t done that already!) to try some Guayusa! I haven’t tried this one yet (Azzrian sent me a sampling of it though and I’m looking forward to trying it soon), but I love her Cider Guayusa as well as her apricot and her citrus ones … Good Morning Sunshine and the Creamsicle one, I think! YUM!

Sharing some of this with TeaEqualsBliss since she LOVES mint!
Just got this in today and I sure needed the kick start!
Really delicious with a nice level of vanilla and that kick of mint.
I had forgotten this one had the mint in it – I know exactly what times I want to enjoy this one!
Another win from Stacy! What else would one expect? :)

This was my 1:30 in the morning tea because despite napping all afternoon, I was ready to sleep by the time the Grand Prix rolled around….only one more early race! Grumble grumble it’s in India so it’s at 5:30am in this horrible time limbo. Do you wake up for it? Do you sleep a bit before it and a bit after? Do you have no sense of time zones and become surprised to realize India could be so far from South Korea? Or are they being mean now because all the Brits have had to wake up for 5:30am for the past couple? Questions. (Seoul is 3 1/2 hours ahead of New Delhi so they’re not just being mean to Americans it turns out.)

I find guayusa and mate are the only teas that actually make me feel awake. It doesn’t last long, but a couple hours was all I needed to watch my favorite driver take the championship back, yeeeeees. REDBULLSTYLE.

I didn’t realize this tea had lavender in it, so I’d been carrying it around in my travel kit quite fearful of it. If you’re like me and don’t like lavender, but love vanilla, there’s no need to be afraid. It’s a background note and it is not soapy whatsoever.

This is first and foremost vanilla, and it is very smooth and creamy. I feel like this could be an ice cream flavor from a local company because the flavors match like something I expect from them. Surprises lurking in the background, but sweet vanilla all the way.

I didn’t even feel like I was drinking guayusa, it was like drinking some kind of vanilla bean concoction. I didn’t even drink it sweetened so I’m going to have to try that next.

any lavender is better than that Thrills gum that tastes like lavender soap! I am for ever scarred by that gum and approach all lavender thing with extreme caution. Luckily this is awesome and tastes like vanilla and spearamint

thanks again Butiki for these samples! Always appreciated! Guayusa is usually delicious… well guayusa doesn’t really have much of a flavor, does it? But they are nice energy boosts. I assumed this Killer’s Vanilla would be a bit more “killer”. For some reason it is tasting like cantaloupe… didn’t I say that about the last Butiki I tried? I do have a cantaloupe sample with those, so I hope it didn’t affect the other teas. So I’m getting more of a cantaloupe flavor than vanilla. There is an interesting flavor here from the…. oh wait.. I just looked at the description and it is lavender?? How did I miss that? I did add sugar, which Butiki suggested (and I NEVER do that… I added maple syrup to a tea once.) The sugar to me just made the tea tasting more like splenda. Not what I was going for! The second steep didn’t have sugar, and I preferred that one… but that’s just me. This is a good one from Butiki, but honestly I expected more! Especially since I love vanilla teas. But like I said, I’m really hoping the cantaloupe didn’t affect my other samples. Maybe I just don’t like this flavor combo… but it’s still a delicious tea.. it’s Butiki! I don’t think this was a fair review, seeing as how I wasn’t even aware there was lavender. Where were my tastebuds? Another cup for another day…

I sipped this one yesterday (just writing tasting notes now) and I wanted that energy boost from the guayusa for sitting outside with a book.. in December.. at 65 degrees… in NY. Wow. I must say that hours after I drank this, I was hyper! I felt like I could run a marathon. But then again, that also could have been from enjoying the outdoors!